Preston Reaches Round of 12 at NCAA Championships

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. –Todd Preston reached the Round of 12 at the 2014 NCAA Championships, but fell one victory shy of reaching the podium after dropping a 2-1 decision to Michigan's Stephen Dutton.

Preston entered the tournament as the 10th-seeded wrestler at 141 lbs. and won both his matches on Thursday to reach the quarterfinals. The sophomore first defeated Daniel Neff of Lock Haven in tiebreakers, 7-4, before taking out Central Michigan's Zach Horan, the seventh seed, by a score of 6-2.

Preston was met by Ohio State's Logan Stieber in the quarterfinals, the second seed and two-time defending national champion. Stieber ended Preston's bid for his own national title with a first-period fall, before 13th-seeded Dutton knocked him from the tournament.

A native of Hampton, N.J., Preston enjoyed a breakout season in which he posted a 25-10 overall record. He captured his first EIWA Championship and was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler two weeks ago, and was also named to the All-Ivy League second team.

Junior co-captain James Fox also represented Harvard at the NCAA Championships. Fox went 0-2 in his third appearance at Nationals, falling to eighth-seeded Phillip Wellington of Ohio, 6-5, and ninth-seeded Christian Boley of Maryland, 9-3, at 197 lbs.